Executive Interview with Frank Pagano, CEO of Coni-Seal
Our latest Executive Interview features Frank Pagano, CEO of Lakewood, NJ-based Coni-Seal, Inc. Recently, as part of an investment group, Pagano acquired the assets two aftermarket businesses including Qualitee International. Pagano recently took some time to give aftermarketNews.com a breakdown of these new businesses and where they are headed.
How To Inspire Managers & Sales People To Do Their Best And Win (Lessons From Racing)
This year at University Forum, popular motorsports anchor Rick Benjamin and Tom Easton, AAP, a senior partner with Essential Action Design Group, will use lessons from racing to show you how to inspire managers and sales people to do their best.The University of the Aftermarket’s annual University Forum can help you stay competitive, and keep pace with our ever-changing market. The event takes place on Sunday, Oct. 31 prior to the kickoff of AAPEX 2004.
It’s Not Your Father’s Vo-tech – Warwick, RI, Area Career & Technical Center Named Nation’s Best
Many high school seniors worry about what they will do after graduation. But thanks to a school program and a mentorship, Jason Marley, a senior at Warwick Veterans Memorial High in Rhode Island, already has a job. Marley is one of 45 students in the Warwick Area Career & Technical Center’s automotive training program. This past summer, the 17-year-old student started working under a mentor at Bald Hill Subaru, repairing cars.
Executive Interview with Tom Ward, President, Snap-on Diagnostics
Our latest edition of “Executive Interview” features Tom Ward, president of Snap-on Diagnostics, a global business focused on improving technician and workshop productivity around the world. Join us as Ward gives us an inside look at Snap-on Diagnostics, including information on some recently launched products. Ward also talks about the trends and challenges in automotive diagnostics and repair and how the division works to address these issues.
Shortage of Technology-Oriented Mechanics May Lead to Higher Repair Costs
Motorists, already facing soaring gas prices, can expect higher repair costs in the future because of a lack of qualified mechanics. Even as today’s cars and trucks become more technologically advanced, there are fewer students who can read well enough to understand manuals that explain how to repair them, mechanics and automotive instructors say.
DST Asks: Parts Distributors — Do Your Customers Order Parts Online?
Help Wanted – Parts Counterman, Requirements: Must be willing to work 365 days per year, 24 hours per day. Understands and has committed to memory a world-class multi-line parts catalog. Always knows correct pricing of each item. Processes parts orders in nanoseconds. Never puts customers on hold. Works for electricity – no salary or extra benefits. Any bets on how many responses you’ll get to that classified ad? Selling auto parts would be a lot easier and less costly if you could make those kinds of hires. Actually, it turns out that such resources are available today, just not human resources, the kind we would advertise for in the local paper. Instead, we might call them “cyber-employees” – a new species that forms the backbone of e-business and works in the world of browser-based technology on the Internet.
Executive Interview with Eric Sills, Director of Headquarter Operations, Standard Motor Products
Our latest edition of “Executive Interview” features Eric Sills, director of headquarter operations at Standard Motor Products. It’s been just about one year since Standard acquired Dana’s Engine Management division. Join us as Sills brings us up to speed on the integration, and shares some of Standard’s goals and plans for the coming years.
Rep. Knollenberg Introduces Bill To Fight Counterfeit Goods
U.S. Representative Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich. 9th District) yesterday introduced legislation to strengthen the federal law used to prosecute counterfeiters whose products threaten public health, harm American manufacturers and cost jobs in the U.S. The Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act would require the mandatory destruction of equipment used to manufacture and package counterfeit goods. In addition, the proposed legislation addresses methods that counterfeiters have used to evade prosecution, such as the selling of patch sets or medallions that can later be attached to generic merchandise and given the appearance of a genuine product, as well as placing a counterfeit mark on goods not specifically listed in the trademark registration.
DST Asks:Does Your Multi-Store Business Management System Capture and Consolidate Operating Information?
It’s the American way. Start your own business. Perfect your methods. Hire good people. Grow your customer base. Perfect the idea at one location, then expand by adding new locations that share the same business model. Thousands of successful retail enterprises have started in exactly this way. It’s a fundamental way to apply the principle we all learned in Economics 101 – economies of scale. Business 101 would call it leverage. Good entrepreneurs call it survival!
Metaldyne Launches Internal Inquiry
Auto supplier Metaldyne Corp. has launched an internal investigation into questionable accounting practices for the last seven years that could have resulted in overstating the company’s earnings by $20 million. The error was followed by a cover-up to balance the books, the company said.